


Greying

by shortandirritablee



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 03:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15787998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shortandirritablee/pseuds/shortandirritablee
Summary: I mean we all know Zuko had to have gone grey first out of the gaang... that guy is far too stressed not too.





	Greying

She’d been sat on her enormous plush bed when it happened. The Royal Chambers, although cozy to her, with their warm red tapestries ranging from scarlet to crimson adorning the walls, and soft light rugs cushioning her feet, also had high echoing ceilings and by extension, were very good at carrying sound.

She had been contemplating getting up to study her bending scrolls -she had an evaluation at the Academy the next day- and was about to change out of the clothes she’d been wearing all day and into her pyjamas when she’d heard it: her father’s yell and then surprisingly, as she dashed from her room, fire in hand and ready to fight, her mother’s laugh. Or, perhaps more aptly put, her mother’s _cackle_. 

Izumi knew many people thought her mother emotionless, often comparing her to whatever mechanical invention appeared next, and Izumi knew that these people were wrong in their judgement of the Firelady. However, even she knew that this wasn’t a normal sound for her mother to make and was definitely one that merited immediate inspection. This was exactly what she intended to do, and as she approached the guards, worry and confusion playing on their faces, she nodded to them and entered; their Crown Princess could handle it, whatever _it_ was.

She heard the door click shut behind her and walked through her parents’ room, passing the living area and then their bed, heading for the only place left for them to be: their bathroom. Wanting to give them a warning- because Agni forbid she walked in on them doing something she could never unsee- she gave three quick raps on the door. Receiving no response, she slowly opened it and saw, well, she wasn’t entirely sure what she saw at first. Mai was doubled-over, and her shoulders were heaving, though she looked far too amused to be crying, and her father was holding some of his hair. Hair which was decidedly _not black_.

Firelord Zuko, busy man that he was, rarely had time to look in mirrors and had even perfected the art of putting his hair in a top knot and perfectly inserting his crown while on the move. Now, however, his reflected face bore an emotion of pure shock mixed with anguish as he inspected the lock of greys that seemed to have sprouted from his temple, taking him utterly by surprise. He was no longer able to register the presence of the love of his life or his treasured child, so consumed was he by the fact that despite being a healthy man still in his early forties, he was _greying_.

Perhaps a sweeter daughter would have embraced her father during his sudden crisis. Perhaps a more stoic Princess would have told him _worry not, father_ ; that his power resided not in his hair, but in his honorable and unyielding nature, and that greying was merely a sign of the wisdom that accompanied age. Izumi, however, was neither of those things. Instead, she felt the corners of her mouth shoot upwards, her breath coming in shaky gasps until she too erupted with laughter, pointing at her father, her vision waning as her eyes crinkled. 

“Out, now!” Her father squeaked with all the dignity he could muster. 

Ever the obedient girl, she dashed from her parents’ bathroom and jumped onto their bed, unable to hide the grin still on her face. Her mother soon joined her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, and together they waited for her father’s inevitable retreat from the mirrored wall in the other room. It took a few minutes, but he eventually emerged, greeted by the two most important people in his life unashamedly snickering at his wounded vanity.

“It makes you look very… _refined_ , darling.” Her mother finally managed to say. “Like uh- what is it people are saying at the moment? A silver wolf-fox.” Looking as though his worries had been somewhat assuaged, Zuko turned to his daughter, anticipating her own words of reassurance. But Izumi was a teenager and unfamiliar with the dreaded reality of aging, and instead offered no such comfort in her father’s hour of need.

“I can’t _wait_ to tell Uncle Aang!” 

This instantly set her mother off again and her father, with the regal grace befitting a Firelord, flopped face-first onto the bed and groaned. As they continued laughing at his expense, he sprung into action, grabbing his wife with one arm and his daughter with the other, tickling them until Izumi threatened to blast away the offending hairs while Mai prepared to take out some of the many knives she carried on her person.

Later, as Izumi lay in bed, her studying completely forgotten, she giggled to herself once more. _Yes_ , she thought before finally drifting off to sleep, _I’m definitely going to enjoy our next trip to Republic City _.__

**Author's Note:**

> I mean we all know Zuko had to have gone grey first out of the gaang... that guy is far too stressed not too.


End file.
